Armenia ready to contribute to improvement of Russia-EU relations – Pashinyan
18:41, 7 June, 2019
YEREVAN, JUNE 7, ARMENPRESS. Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan announced that Armenia is ready to contribute to the development of relations between Russia and the EU, the correspondent of ARMENPRESS reports Pashinyan said during his speech at St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.
To the question of the facilitator of the session if Armenia can in the future abandon the EAEU if the shift towards the EU continues, Pashiyan answered that there is no shift towards any direction.
“There is no shift towards the European Union, because Armenia remains in the place it is now. This is very important to emphasize, because we cooperate with the EU over issues of our domestic reforms. The EU is very interested in improving relations with Russia. I often contact with European leaders and I want to say that all of them support Armenia in developing relations with the Russian Federation. And this is very important. We are very transparent with our Russian partners in our relations with the EU, and we are transparent with our European partners in our relations with the RF. Of course, ruling out some security-linked nuances”, Pashinyan said.
The Armenian PM said that geopolitical games do not lead to any good thing and Armenia does not plan to participate in them. “I want to say that really many European leaders are interested in normalizing relations with Russia. I think the presence of the two European leaders here also speaks about that. I think many have understood in the world that geopolitical games do not lead to any good thing, and this particularly refers to the countries and peoples which become a platform for such geopolitical games. For that reason Armenia’s position is very clear – we do not plan to become part of geopolitical games. We have to establish normal relations with the European Union and the Russian Federation. We are a EAEU member state, holding the chairmanship of this year. Recently I paid a visit to the People’s Republic of China, where I mentioned in my speech that I am very glad we have a positive dynamics of relations with China. I think China, the EU and Russia are all interested in universal stability and I think that our main priority in these relations is stability and security. Of course, we, as an EAEU member state, understand our role and will contribute to the improvement of relations between our colleagues, not to worsening”, the Armenian PM said.
Answering the question if Armenia has made an unequivocal decision in favor of the EAEU, Pashinyan said, “We are an EAEU member state. This is the only economic integration process we are member to and we will continue our membership, but it does not mean that we will no have relations with China. We will have bilateral relations with China and will contribute to the development of China-EAEU relations. As refers to the EU, here we cooperate for example, for the reforms in the judicial sphere in our country. It’s important for us to have a judicial system in line with the European standards. We are very glad for the opportunity to contribute to the improvement of relations between the EU and Russia and Armenia can be a bridge in this context”,
Edited and translated by Tigran Sirekanyan